Perini Navi - Part 3: Captivating Inventions

Marilyn M. Mower

Perini Navi managing director Giancarlo Ragnetti remembers when Felicità first sailed into Sardinia’s Porto Cervo, the summer headquarters of sailing’s cognoscenti. “People came aboard and they liked the flying bridge and the big decks but they said, ‘Where are your winches?’ ” recalls Ragnetti. “We showed them, but they were not confident in the results. Today all of our competitors have captive winches. They allow you to sail a 50-meter boat with four sailing professionals instead of 10 or more, plus four or five crew for the interior. That translates into more room for the owner and guests and less expense.”

While several large boatbuilders and winch makers today favor hydraulic-powered winches because the motors are smaller, lighter, and faster, Perini chooses to stay with electric power. As Ragnetti says, the trade-off in weight is not consequential for yachts in the 50-meter range. “If an electric winch goes haywire, it’s no problem. You bypass all the electronics and you have a normal electric machine,” he says. “If a hydraulic winch quits, so does the sailing.”

Through the years, Perini Navi boats have debuted a number of technical and design innovations. The following is a selection of those:

• In addition to automated sail handling, the twin-engine Felicità, launched in 1983, debuted a ballasted swing keel that retracts into a shallow fixed keel and is raised by an electric winch.

• In 1985, Perini Navi delivered the 141-foot Andromeda and, at owner Tom Perkins’ request, painted it navy blue, which has since become the boatbuilder’s trademark.

• Xasteria, a 151-footer launched in 1990, featured an interior helm station that was positioned forward on the superstructure so that the crew could access the wheelhouse and flying bridge without intruding on the owner’s area.

• The 154-foot Andromeda la Dea, Tom Perkins’ second Perini Navi boat, was launched in 1990 and became the first Perini to circumnavigate the world.

• Corelia, a 158-footer launched in 1993, was the first Perini to feature a tender garage, which cleared the deck of dinghies and water toys.

• When it debuted in 1997, the 171-foot Liberty was the first sailing yacht with the cockpit positioned forward of the superstructure.

• Perini’s first contract to an outside naval architect went to Ron Holland for the 210-foot Felicità west, which was launched in 2003. She was Perini’s first all-aluminum construction and is currently the world’s largest all-aluminum sailing yacht. More than 37 miles of cabling control 19,000 square feet of sails.